Delete messages in Gmail

To clean up your inbox, delete messages one at a time or by specific categories. Deleted messages move from your inbox to your trash.

Learn what happens when you delete a message

Important: When you delete a draft, you can't recover it from Trash.

When you delete a message in Gmail, it's moved to Trash.

Up to 30 days after deletion:

You can find the message in Trash.
You can recover the message from your trash and move it back to your inbox.
You can also delete the message permanently. After that, you can't recover the message.

After 30 days:

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Gmail app 👁 Image
.
Touch and hold a message.
At the top left, tap the box next to "Select all."
- By default, Gmail selects up to 50 messages to delete.
  - To delete 50 more messages:
    1. Scroll to the top of the page.
    2. At the top left, tap the box next to “Select all.”
At the top, tap Delete 👁 Image
.

To delete specific emails, enter a search operator in the search bar.

For example, you can search for:

To quickly delete a message in your inbox with a swipe, add "Trash" as a swipe action.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Gmail app 👁 Image
.
At the top left, tap Menu 👁 Menu
.
Tap Settings.
Under "Inbox," tap Inbox customizations.
Tap Mail swipe actions 👁 and then
Right swipe or Left swipe 👁 and then
Trash.